The third university established in Victoria, La Trobe University has a diverse community of more than 38,000 students and staff. Its commitment to excellence in teaching and research prepares students to make a bold and positive impact in today's global community. La Trobe provides Open Universities Australia with its core tenets, entrepreneurship and sustainability.
Prerequisites: Students are required to have passed 2 subjects totalling 30 credit points at second year level
Past La Trobe University students who have previously completed ANT2KAM (Kinship, Gender and Marriage) are ineligible to enrol in this subject.
Anthropologists have long been fascinated by kinship and marriage, which are central to human social organisation and to relationships of gender and power. In this subject we look at how anthropological approaches to these forms of relationships have changed over time and critically assess recent work in this field. We examine the role and significance of kinship and marriage in many different societies, looking at the diverse ways humans create families, and topics such as the concept of love and the darker side of kinship - family violence. The future of kinship and marriage will also be considered in the light of continuing social change and the development of new reproductive technologies.